Sarah Palin’s announcement that she is “in national politics to stay” surely spells the end of the GOP brand.  If the party nominates her in ‘12, the landslide for the Dems will be even greater than this time around.  She speaks only to a small base of diehard theocratic evangelicals whose insane ideas are inimical to everything that makes this country great, and especially the separation of powers doctrine, the First Amendment, and the doctrine of separation of church and state.  Palin is a Dangerous Lunatic.  If I were a believer, I’d say God help us if she gets into the White House.

My friend-Victor-lives in the U.P. of MICHIGAN called me today to give me a heads up from the Michigan Intertribal Council.Seems “ole ya-betcha” has tried to take away NATIVE FISHING AND HUNTING RIGHTS up in “her great state of Alaska”.We REALLY NEED TO WATCH THIS ONE…...

I have been enjoying your rational, realistic, well thought out comments on Countdown w/Keith Olberman. Keep them coming.

I fear they may be, Catherine. Badly-educated, poorly-informed people tend to elect badly educated, poorly-informed leaders in this country.

Purple Girl…MAC IS the Emperor and Palin is the fisherman’s wife who lived in a hut but got a magic fish to grant her every wish…until finally the fish got tired of her greed and sent her back to the hut, where she “lives to this very day.”  The Emperor was finally “exposed,” too.  When we think about it, McCain is actually campaigning only for himself and those like him…the “let them eat cake” society.  He’s so transparent and Palin is so far out of her league BUT they do appeal to those who have very little wealth, too.  THAT I cannot fathom.  In my area, I see McCain/Palin signs in the yards of some of the poorest homes and streets.  What is it with these people?  Are they so braindead?

Tokind, you should not wish something like incarceration in re-education camps on anyone—not even your worst enemy.

If we are going to experiment with socialism, let’s not forget the re-education camps for those who voted to re-elect George W. Bush.

This is no time to let up or relax - between dirty tricks, an all-out fear campaign, a possible October surprise, voter suppression and rigged elections, this snake can still bite -  but it’s beginning to look like there could be be a huge Democratic win on Nov. 4.  Will that merely launch more centrist, triangulating politicians into office, or will it have lasting consequences? That will turn in part on how we work to keep together and build on the huge movements that have formed around the Obama campaign and other races.

Hundreds of thousands of campaign workers and volunteers are starting to think about what a victory would mean, what to do next. Now is the moment to start talking with them about building grass-roots movements to organize and advocate for a progressive agenda on an ongoing basis. 

Even in victory, the end of a political campaign can be painful. The excitement, the camaraderie, the dreaming and planning together suddenly halts. There’s a celebration party, hugs and handshakes, promises to stay in touch and keep the flame alive, and then everyone goes home.  But the need to keep the campaign movements alive this time is urgent and widely felt.

Even Obama has said that this is just the opening round of the battle for his agenda, and that holds doubly true for progressives - aware as we are of his ties and obligations to the corporate rich and his dangerous proposals for military escalation. We all know that the lobbyists never sleep.  Will the campaigners go home and leave the field to them?  How, they are wondering, can they go on affecting events after the election?  How can they keep those they are electing from being turned?

Thus it is foreseeable that thousands will want to keep their campaigns together, continue to build on them and stay involved in shaping the direction of the country.  Perhaps the Obama campaign will attempt to capitalize on this. But the movement must be bottom-up, controlled by its base and sufficiently independent of the national power centers to be able to represent the people.

Such movements, including DemocracyForAmerica.com (DFA), have emerged from past campaigns. PDA (Progressive Democrats of America), however, is particularly well positioned to keep alive and channel the energy coming out of this year’s campaigns.  Founded by activists from the 50-state Kucinich Campaign of 2004, it aligns with the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  Caucus members John Conyers, Jr., Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee among others sit on its Board, and it played a key role in the stunning electoral victory of November 2006.

PDA has been active in the struggles against vote fraud, for ending the wars and occupations and bringing the troops home, and for impeaching Bush, for single-payer health care, against bailing out the bankers and for a response to the economic crisis that focuses on investing in a sustainable future and keeping people in their homes and working.  It’s “inside-outside strategy” - working inside the Democratic Party to return it to its roots as the party of the working people, and outside in movements for peace and justice - is reflected in the presence on its Board of leaders from a broad array of movements, from Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange to Jodie Evans of CODEPINK and Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. of the Hip-Hop Nation. 

PDA now has over 200 local chapters, and its goal is an active chapter in each of the 435 Congressional Districts.  Working at the local level with Greens, Netroots groups, labor and communty groups it has a vital part to play in organizing - neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block - to restore democracy to America.

In any case, whether we join with people from the Democratic campaigns in building PDA or in some other form, we cannot just stand by while they call it a day and drop out. What happens over the next four years will be shaped by the leadership we give now!

AMERICAN VOTERS NEED TO GOOGLE “PNAC AND JOHN MCCAIN”
BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE. NOT ONLY WAS JOHN MCCAIN A PART
OF THIS DANGEROUS “PROJECT” BUT SOME OF THE OTHER PLANNERS OF THIS ARE PART OF THE MCCAIN 08 CAMPAIGN!

Mac’s Speech and doctirnes ONLY make sense if you are in the ‘upper balcony’ (Lennon- don’t clap just rattle your jewels).
Was it ZERO times he mentioned the Middle class in any of those debates?
Does he not realize that people have come to KNOW Trickle Down is akin to Feudalism? So socialism sounds pretty good to US!
Mac is playing to the Emperor and his Court, he is not talking to US. Everytime he says he’ll cut Capitol Gains taxes I nearly piss myself…How many average Working class people have any Capitol to get ‘Gains’ from, so tax breaks are Mute.What a dumb SOB, they don’t have those assets, so they have NO idea what you are Talking about!But again Mac doesn’t care, because he is not Talking to US.
Seems Mac’s Audiences are starting to pick up this ‘Talking above their heads’ BS and his numbers plummeting reflect the miniscule demographics he is performing for.

Possibly, Big B, McCain has a secret desire to lose and lose big; lose humiliatingly. As much as I’ve come to despise the Repubs, I hope he—and they—have such a horrendous loss, neither will ever recover from it.

Instead of following the populist formula that built his political career, being a fiscal conservative, a social moderate, and weary of the gun lobby, poor Mac was forced to cow-tow to the repug old guard. Learn the three G’s(god, guns, and gays) and repeat them often!

Proud Johnny and the repug elite once again went back to the culture war well, only to find it dry as a bone in this year of economic disaster. They failed to realize that when people and the nation are poor, they care less about their petty backward social views than they do of food and housing and energy.

Why were they this stupid in this election year? All they had to do was run a middle of the road, moderate campaign, and they would have actually had a chance in a year when they should have stood no chance. Bush had poisoned the well, but the repugs still stood a chance because of the “blackness” of the other candidate. But alas, they chose the same low road that many victorious repug candidates have traveled in the past, the road of the culture wars for the religious wacko base, and deregulation for the big business uber wealthy. But it looks as though the Reagan dimmocrates, you know, those idiots that fell for the flag sucking act for the last 40 years, have finally grown a brain and realized that without their help, the repug party cannot win a national election. That, after they voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bushes I and II, they realized that the GOP lost their number the morning after.

Yup, proud Johnny forgot that you can no longer just preach to the believers, because they are going to vote for you anyway. While a dimmo moderate may sometimes vote repug, a true repug will never vote for a dimmo. McCain forgot this axiom, and it may coast him an election(well that and a recession, two foreign wars, corruption, gov Sarah) Come to think of it, this idiot is trying to throw this election!